Gerrit Smith

Gerrit Smith (6 March 1797-28 December 1874) was a member of the US House of Representatives (FS-NY 21) from 4 March 1853 to 7 August 1854, succeeding Henry Bennett and preceding Henry C. Goodwin.

Biography
Gerrit Smith was born in Utica, Oneida County, New York in 1797, and he became an active temperance campaigner in 1828 and an abolitionist in 1835. In 1840, he played a leading role in the foundation of the Liberty Party, and, in 1848, he was nominated as the Libertyite presidential candidate, although the Libertyites had been weakened by mass defections to the new Free Soil Party. In 1852, however, he was elected to the US House of Representatives as a Free Soiler, and he resigned in 1854, as he was upset about his separation from his home and his business. However, he advocated a mild policy against the Confederate states during the American Civil War, and incurred the wrath of Radical Republicans by helping to underwrite the $100,000 bail for imprisoned former Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who spent two years in prison without being charged with a crime. He died in 1874.